Emma Ruiz
by aka Emma Fritz
Summary: The Doctor stumbled across his newest companion in a parking lot while looking for King Midas. Emma is a bit of a book worm whose ancestry is unknown. In this "Season" they travel the universe, having adventures, never knowing that the greatest one is waiting for them at the end: Aliens that could hijack Emma's personality and bring the Earth to its greedy knees ...
1. A Big Blue Box

**I don't have the same kind of time I used to, so my writing has become a little rusty. I'm hoping that by putting down this story that has been stuck in my head, I can dust off my brain and get better at this again.**

**Well then, without further introductions: Geronimo!**

Emma was running late again. She had gotten caught up in reading about ancient romans and the legend of the Pandorica's loyal guard; to have someone stand watch for 2,000 years was devotion she only found in legends and works of fiction. But now, if she didn't run, Emma was going to be behind schedule at her temp job in New Jersey, so she left the book face down on her unmade bed and grabbed the bread fresh out of the toaster as she slid into her heels. Stuffing the toast in her mouth, she closed her apartment door and shrugged the messenger bag higher up her shoulder. Hurrying towards her car she could hear the apartment building's door slam shut behind her and could only hope that her neighbors wouldn't complain once again about the noisy downstairs inhabitants. If Emma wasn't slamming doors, falling over, or setting things crashing to the floor, her flatmate, Helen, was engaging in loud shouts of orgasm or causing various pieces of furniture to bump against walls.

Harlem wasn't terrible during the day, although the overly enthusiastic male attention always made her a little wary. _I can't help being female and liking dresses! Is it a crime to wear a high-cut, knee-length tea dresses?_ Emma grumbled as she hurried along the sidewalk. Apparently it warranted creepy behavior from the neighborhood unemployed. Thankful for her mace, she waved at Ed, the corner grocer, who was arranging the magazine stand outside his little shop, before turning the corner and leaping into her car. It was a stroke of luck that Emma had found the small parking lot a few weeks earlier and no longer had to run the risk of over zealous traffic wardens who loved to give tickets at the slightest provocation.

Turning the key, her car groaned and sputtered briefly before falling silent once more. "Not again," Emma groaned and turned the key with more vigor. Nothing happened, a slight creak and that was it. "Shit shit shit!" Emma swore as she clamored back out of the old beaten up Ford. "No, no, no baby. Just a few more months and I'll have paid you off. Don't make me use public transportation now!" Popping the hood, Emma opened it and received a face full of steam. Coughing, she fanned the air in front of her and backed away. She'd have to give her Ford some time to cool off before she could check what was wrong. Sighing she sat back into the driver's seat and pulled out her phone. The High School would need to know why she was running late.

However, before she could finished dialing, a sound caught her attention. A high pitched, rhythmic wheezing that became louder with time. Curious, she placed her hand against the wheel to see if it vibrated, but the car remained still. Meanwhile the wheezing pulse had hit a screeching high before falling silent. A door opened behind her. _Wait, a door?_ Emma whipped around in surprise; there should be no door opening, _I'm the only one in an empty parking lot!_

A blue box stood behind her car, bumper to wood paneling. _That was not there before!_ Emma grabbed her purse and scrambled out of her car. Moving slowly, she dug through the bag until she gripped the bottle of mace. Feeling slightly safer, she inched towards the strange, rather large, box that was steaming slightly at its edges. Along the sides ran small, small opaque windows and the front read 'Police Box.' _What in god's name is a police box? and what is it doing behind my car?_ Emma's fear was slowly being replaced by curiosity.

The front door was ajar and light filtered out."Come in, come in, we haven't got all day" a voice shouted, causing Emma to jump. Pulling out her mace and holding it in front of her, she reached for the door. Looking back once, she promised herself, _just one peek_, and stepped inside.

And promptly stepped back out.

"Yes, yes. It's bigger on the inside than the outside. I get that a lot" the voice from in the box called. "Now if you'd be so kind as to get back in, we can get you home."Emma wasn't certain what to do and who the voice from the box thought she was. While she debated whether or not she should enter once more, a head popped out."Oh, hello" he cheerfully explained. He was a young man, in his twenties with hair that desperately needed a cut. The bow tie around his neck belied his youthful appearance. "Have you seen a man around here? Longish hair, possibly still wearing robes. Looking a little like he belongs in a play about the ancient romans?" Emma shook her head, unable to find her voice. "Well, this is the 21st century BC. Or is it AD? Am I even using the right calendar?" His jaw twitched "No definitely BC. I distinctly remember needing to go to BC. And it is the western hemisphere. This is the USA, right?" He barely paused for an answer that was not forthcoming. "Well, maybe he'd look more like he belonged to the time of Jesus then. Middle Eastern for sure." Having come to the end of his speech he looked around as if waiting for someone to magically appear.

Clearing her throat Emma dared to respond, "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor!" the strange man grinned.

"a doctor?"

"No, no, the Doctor. Although, on the sixth moon of Zephyr I am, in fact, also a doctor. But not here." Emma was growing very confused and more certain that she was talking to a mad man. _Why did the car need to break down?_ she thought desperately, _I have no fast exit now!_

Trying to placate the obviously unstable man she asked, "Doctor who?"

"Exactly!" he exclaimed happily.

**Coming Up ...**

**Emma Ruiz. The Doctor. The Tardis. An antique ring. And the search for King Midas.**


	2. A New Companion

**I'm really liking this story, so thank you to all those who are giving it a chance. I hope you're having as much fun with it as I am.**

**I forgot to do so in the first chapter, so here it is now: I do not own these characters. I am just borrowing them. I promise I will return them unharmed.**

**Now, let's get on with it. Geronimo!**

* * *

"I'm not sure I follow …" Emma responded carefully.

"They call me 'Doctor Who', or just 'the Doctor'" the man in the bow tie explained as he stepped fully out of the Police Box and curtsied. Emma didn't know what to do. "Oh, was that the wrong response?" he asked.

"Ye-" Emma cleared her throat, "Yes. Usually we just shake hands."

"Ah, right," the man stuck out his hand and Emma carefully shook it. "So. I'm the Doctor. You are?"

"Emma. Emma Ruiz."

"Emma Ruiz. Lovely name," the Doctor smiled "Now, Emma, have you seen a strange looking man around here?"

_Have you looked in a mirror? You're not looking all that normal yourself with those pants, suspenders, bow tie and, of course, the curtsy._ "Well it is Harlem so there are lots of strange people. Just take a ride on the subway," she joked. The Doctor just waited. "But there's only been me in this parking lot."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Odd," the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a strange pen. _Or …_

"Is that supposed to be a screwdriver?" Emma tilted her head incredulously.

"A sonic screwdriver to be exact," the Doctor pointed it at Emma with a flick of his wrist and a green light at the end glowed. "Hmm," he stared at his sonic screwdriver, "definitely human, female. Not Midas. And yet …" He looked up abruptly and mused, "why would the Tardis bring me to you?"

"The Tardis? And what in God's name is a 'sonic screwdriver'?" Emma was starting to feel a headache coming on.

"Later," the Doctor waved impatiently, "right now I have to figure out why I was brought to you." The sonic screwdriver pointed at Emma once more.

A long silence followed as the sonic screwdriver was waved up and down and Emma questioned her decision to stay standing instead of walking away while she still could. Suddenly, with an "Aha!" the Doctor pocketed his screwdriver once more. "Your hands please" he asked and Emma slowly held hers out, palms up. Twisting one, then the other, the Doctor lowered his face to inspect her fingernails. "Your ring," he asked, "where'd you get it?"

"From a pawn shop," Emma answered, removing her hands from the Doctor's grip, "why?"

"It's very old."

"So?" Emma's was becoming frustrated with the man's cryptic way of speaking; never an explanation, only a vague stating of facts.

"So. It's not yours."

"I paid for it. So it actually is mine."

"Yes, yes. But it wasn't yours originally."

"That's generally how pawn shops work," Emma couldn't resist a sarcastic remark.

"Has it been doing anything unusual recently?" The Doctor asked, moving closer.

"No. Should it have?" Emma was growing a little concerned now. The man was clearly mad but also very, very serious. The doctor didn't answer, just gestured for her left hand. _Maybe I'm crazy myself because I'm doing as he asks,_ Emma thought, feeling both amused and baffled, as she stretched out her hand and let the Doctor remove the ring.

"Right!" the Doctor spun around and hurried toward the Police Box. "Let's see what this can tell us!" Looking over his shoulder, he beckoned "Come on, into the Tardis with you," and disappeared through the door.

"So this is the Tardis," another piece of the puzzle fell into place for Emma.

"Let's go, in you get!" the Doctor's voice called.

This time Emma was a little more prepared when she stepped into the mind boggling interior of - _what did the Doctor call it? The Tardis?_

It was a huge circular room, with lights and speakers along the outside. _Or are those something else?_ A platform stood in the middle with a console at its center. It looked like something a child would cobble together from things found in their parents' kitchen and garage. A column of class rose from the console, surrounding a pressure mechanism that wheezed softly. _So that's what was making the noise!_ The Doctor stood off to the right, placing a few magnifying glasses above Emma's ring, which he appeared to have placed on a china plate.

"What is this thing?" Emma asked.

"It's not a thing," the Doctor sounded very insulted but his eyes never left her ring on the console, "it's the Tardis. Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"Oh, well that clears it up, thanks," Emma rolled her eyes. The Doctor didn't respond. Stepping up towards the metal stairs, she tried again. "What does a Tardis do exactly?'

"It travels through space and time," the Doctor looked up and grinned before scampering over to the other side of the platform. "Rummaging through a cupboard at his feet, he pulled out five different sized glass bottles.

"You're serious," Emma had to admit it was starting to become hard not to believe him. _I mean, the thing is bigger on the inside than the outside! _Even though what he was talking about should be impossible, she couldn't ignore that she was standing in something that shouldn't exist but did anyway.

"Of course, I'm serious," the Doctor began to pour each of the liquids from the bottles onto the ring. By the third liquid, the ring had begun to glow and by the fifth it was humming. "Very interesting," he murmured. Placing a stethoscope on the ring, he hooked it up to a screen above the console. Images started to flicker across the screen and the Doctor's excitement became palpable.

"What are you doing to my ring?" Emma wanted to know.

"Testing its authenticity. Checking if it still works."

"Still works? Is it supposed to do something?"

Turning to face her, the Doctor raised one eyebrow. "This ring can in fact turn anything it touches into gold."

"Right," Emma chuckled, "prove it."

"Ah, well, yes," the Doctor tugged at his hair and scratched his chin. "That's the problem, I don't know why, but it's not working right now."

"Yeah, that's the problem," Emma scoffed, "it's not that the ring isn't actually magical, it's just broken. How convenient."

"Not broken, just hibernating."

Emma didn't know whether to laugh or cry, _this day is just surreal._ Scrubbing her face, she closed her eyes. "So let me get this right. I'm in a box that's bigger on the inside than the outside, which travels through time and space, and I own a ring that turns things into gold when it's not in hibernation."

"Correct," the Doctor smiled happily. "You're dealing with this remarkably well."

"Thank you?" Emma really wasn't certain that she was, in fact, 'dealing with it.' "Do you think I could have my magical ring back anytime soon?"

"I'm afraid not," the Doctor sighed.

"Why not?"

"I'm looking for a friend and the only lead I have is this ring."

"A friend?"

"King Midas to be exact."

Emma had not been expecting that answer. "King Midas? As in the man who supposedly could turn anything he touched into gold?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded "It was actually the ring that did so, but the legend skips that part."

"But he lived thousands of years ago, what are you doing in 21st century New York?"

"I'm not sure exactly. I was following the ring's imprint. I was brought here, to you."

"Ok. That makes sense," Emma took a deep breath, "sort of." She sank onto the stairs in front of her, "does this mean King Midas is running around New York City right now?"

"Possibly," The Doctor came to sit beside Emma "Or the ring could have just been passed through the generations. But it's not really old enough for that to be the case."

"You can tell its age?" Emma asked, propping her face on her hands.

"Yes. And it's only 30 years old. Somehow it's traveled through time." The Doctor straightened his tie.

"How are you going to use it to find King Midas?"

"I'm going to hook it up to the Tardis and try to follow its time stream backwards."

"Its time stream?" Emma felt like she was trying to understand a foreign language.

"Everything leaves an imprint. Like footsteps in the sand. The Tardis can follow the imprint back. I can enter someone's history at any point in time as long as the Tardis knows where they've been. And the ring will tell me where King Midas has been." Emma could only nod.

They sat there for quite some time, the Doctor humming a tune and Emma rubbing her temples. Church bells could be heard from outside. It was now 10 in the morning.

"Would you like to come along?" the Doctor finally broke the silence.

"What?" Emma was confused.

"Would you like to come along?" the Doctor repeated, "I could use the company."

Emma didn't know what to say. The offer was surprisingly tempting and very surreal. "I couldn't," she finally answered "I mean I have a job, and bills, I can't just skip out on those."

"Space and Time machine, remember?" the Doctor smiled. "I could bring you back to this exact time and place. Well a few minutes after this time, but no later."

"Are you certain you can?" Emma was skeptical; it all seemed like a dream, too good to be true.

"I promise," the Doctor drew an 'x' over his chest twice, "two hearts," he explained. Emma nodded

_Two hearts. Naturally. The fact that he's alien makes more sense than anything else I've seen this morning._ Looking around herself, Emma made a decision. _What the hell, I'm bound to wake up any second. Might as well make it an awesome dream._ "Ok," she stood up and faced the Doctor.

"Yes?" the Doctor began to grin.

"Yes," Emma smiled back.

"Excellent," the Doctor skipped twice and then ran towards the console. "Hold on tight," he attached another tube to the dish Emma's ring sat on, and pulled down on a lever, "Let's go find us a King!"

* * *

**Coming Up …**

**A 1920s jazz bar. A drunk King. And a time vortex that shouldn't exist.**


End file.
